"This Week"
Bahrain Meditation Centre
27^th May, 2006

Part 2 - The Performance of Personality

Last week we explored the idea that your personality is not you, but what you create. Unfortunately most of us don't learn to make the distinction between our 'self' and our personality.

One place we can see the truth of this difference come alive is on every theatre stage, every night. In this crucible of creativity each actor creates the character of the role they play, and each has a different
personality. At the end of their 'performance' it is as if they put that personality down and restore their original (prior to performance) personality. Sometimes, some actors who are playing the same role every
day, begin to blur the distinction between their personality and that of the characters they play. Some of the personality traits and tendencies of the role rubs off and into their own personality. In extreme cases, where the actor becomes a little confused, they may go into some form of therapy in order to disentangle the traits and characteristics until they realise personality is not what I am.

And then there are some actors who put on a one man or one woman show and, during the course of an evening, will play six different characters. They will tell you that the joy of playing so many roles is based in the challenging and the joy of 'creating' so many personalities, made up of different combinations of traits and tendencies of thought, feeling and action. As they enter this creative process they learn to shatter any self limiting beliefs they have learned to have about themselves. In this creative process they will often discover and develop more varied and profound ways to act and interact in their off stage relationships. They will tell you that playing many different roles in a short period of time, in such a disciplined way, is an intense experience requiring tremendous flexibility, stamina and concentration. They only learn by doing.

But you don't need to be on a theatre stage to realise and use your creative ability at the level of 'personality'. You already are on the biggest stage of all, the stage of life. During each day you find yourself in many different 'scenes'; the scene of the kitchen, the office, the meeting, the stadium, the church, the party, the crisis, the child throwing a tantrum, the employee throwing animosity at their colleagues and perhaps the next door neighbour throwing something over the fence. In each scene you get the opportunity to create and play a different role. When you awaken to life as an opportunity to create and play in this way, suddenly life itself becomes a playful and creative adventure. Unfortunately most us learn to take it all far too seriously! Why, because we have a tendency to intensely identify with just one or two roles. In so doing we limit our unlimited creative capacity. We get bored with ourselves, with life and sometimes feel stuck in a rut. Then we go to cinema to live vicariously through the
personalities of others.

Playing different roles each day does not make you the player any less real or genuine a person. In fact, when you are flexible enough to play different roles, you will demonstrate your ability to interact with others according to what you sense they need, and what the scene requires. And as you do you will find the necessary skill, abilities, talents and tendencies emerging from within that you may not even knew you had.

In good tennis coach will encourage the coachee that has a tentative and defensive style of play to visualise and then deliberately play a more assertive style of game for a whole match. As they do the player creates a new aspect to their game they did not realise they could create. They become a more rounded and complete player, able to discern which moments require the defensive stroke and which the assertive stroke. Life is both a stage and a game, an opportunity to create and play. It starts with
realising you are not your personality, you create it. Then you can learn to discern the right role to play in the right scene at the right moment, generating the appropriate traits and tendencies, thereby creating your personality and playing your part accordingly.

Question: How many roles do you get the opportunity to play in your average
day - make a list

Reflection: What are the three key abilities/traits required to play each
role well?

Action: Visualise a difficult relationship in which you are currently
involved. For a moment, imagine you do not want anything from the other.
Then visualise how to you would 'play' that relationship.

Om Shanti
(I am a peaceful soul)

 Tel: +973-17-712 545, meditate@batelco.com.bh, www.bahrainmeditationcentre.org
Bahrain Meditation Centre is administered by B.K.W.S.U. (visit: www.bkwsu.org.uk)